Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland is brightening the days of its pediatric patients with new GlobalMed® telemedicine carts, cleverly called Wall-E, Nemo, Buzz, Dash, and Mr. Incredible.

Online PR News – 06-August-2013 – Scottsdale, Arizona – According to its Facebook page, Children's Hospital Oakland has five new telemedicine carts to be named after the beloved Disney Pixar characters in honor of the generous and long-standing support of the acclaimed animated feature and short film creator.

Earlier this year, the hospital’s magazine Children’s Handprints included telemedicine as a topic to watch, the writer Bernardette Arellano noting "One of the most exciting innovations in healthcare is the use of telemedicine to bring access to care to underserved populations.” To infinity, indeed!

According to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, nearly four million children cannot get to see a physician due to a lack of local public transportation or that the family cannot afford a vehicle.

The shortage of pediatric subspecialists across the nation is markedly more prevalent in rural areas, according to William P. O’Hare and Kenneth M. Johnson, “Child Poverty in Rural America,” Reports on America (Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2004). While the shortage of pediatric subspecialists affects children in both urban and rural areas, children in rural areas have even less access to these providers.

According to the Children’s Hospital Oakland website, “Children’s has Northern California’s most active pediatric trauma center, the region’s busiest pediatric intensive care unit, and one of the largest sickle cell treatment and research centers in the world. Children’s 166 hospital-based physicians provide expert care in 30 pediatric subspecialties, from adolescent medicine to urology.” The use of telemedicine carts to improve access to these subspecialties, as well as to enable the hospital’s doctors and employees to interact and consult with medical professionals at a distance is laudable.

“For many families, multiple trips to the doctor can have significant opportunity costs, such as missing days of work. Improving access to specialty pediatric health care for these families through the use of telemedicine carts can reduce these pains, and also bring the right care much faster,” says Joel E. Barthelemy, Founder and Managing Director of GlobalMed, a telemedicine systems and solution provider.

Barthelemy went on to say, “When I heard that Children’s Hospital Oakland had decided to name their telemedicine carts after Disney Pixar characters, it resonated with me. It’s an excellent representation of the nexus of creativity and technology for the betterment of health care and that’s really wonderful.”

About Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
For 100 years, Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland has delivered leading-edge medical care to children of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Because their medical needs are vastly different from those of adults, there are few places with the specialized staff and facilities capable of treating the most complex illnesses and injuries in children. As an institution 100% focused on kids, Children’s Hospital is home to over 30 pediatric subspecialties—from cardiology to neurosurgery to sports medicine. Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute has over 300 scientists working on hundreds of basic science and clinical research studies—bringing up-to-the-minute laboratory advances to the bedside.

About GlobalMed
GlobalMed develops integrated telemedicine solutions for healthcare providers and corporate health programs. Our mission is to transform the delivery of healthcare globally by developing and integrating secure, efficient health delivery systems that improve access and quality of care, while reducing costs. GlobalMed’s broad array of connected medical devices and patient data workflow systems enable complete patient encounters from the patient location and the doctor to anywhere around the world, via the cloud, across a full range of healthcare specialties. Visit us at www.globalmed.com or call 1-800-886-3692.